"But, you know, it's like that for all of us. We're all proud of our home towns and want the other girls to see what they're like."

Girls Aloud, who sprang to fame on Popstars The Rivals, are a headlining act at the Box Live tour, at Newcastle's Telewest Arena on Saturday. It also features Dannii Minogue, Darius, Kym Marsh and Abs.

The gig comes on the eve of Girls Aloud's debut album entering the charts. A high placing is on the cards. The quintet have already notched up a chart-topping single with Sound of the Underground, following that with the No 2 hit No Good Advice.

"Singles help to establish you as a band, to see how well you do. They are a taste of what's to come on the album. Albums determine whether or not you have staying power," says Sarah.

"Our album has an edge to it. We're all really, really happy with it."

As we chat, Sarah is enjoying a day off. Day off? And she's doing Press?

"Believe me, this is a day off for me," she smiles. "It has been manic. We had two weeks off at Christmas. We'd been in the house since September and then when we won and the single was recorded and then released, well it was just non-stop. We were all burned out, I suppose.

"We had two weeks to do what you would normally take months to do. We were all running on nervous energy.

"It was a lot more relaxed for No Good Advice. Still busy, but we had months to plan it all.

"But none of us are afraid of hard work. We knew the hours we would have to put in, and it's been worth it."

So much so, that the group is now making in-roads in the European charts, and further afield too.

"It's really starting to take off in Europe, which is great. And there's even talk of going to Australia. Now that would be wicked," says Sarah. "I've not been further than Tenerife!"

Saturday's gig at the Telewest Arena will be something of a comfort for the fans who were left reeling when the Popstars The Rivals tour, which should have taken place in the Spring, was cancelled due to poor ticket sales.

"It was disappointing for us. We didn't want to let the fans down. But, let's face it, there aren't a lot of bands who would go and do a tour after one single," says Sarah philosophically.

"In a way it was a blessing in disguise. I don't think we would have been ready for it. We needed to establish ourselves more.

"And we're trying to get away from the whole Popstars thing now, we want to be a band in our own right.

"I'll always be grateful for Popstars, I wouldn't be doing this now had it not been for the show.

"The whole point of it was to make a band. Now we want to grow as a band."